


Bond Level 10

by Jack_Simpson



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:02:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29184465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jack_Simpson/pseuds/Jack_Simpson
Summary: Bonding with so many Servants, all with their own backgrounds, ideas, morals and quirks, is no easy task, yet Ritsuka Fujimaru seems to manage it just fine.One by one, no matter their previous opinions, the Servants inevitably come to see their Master in a new light.Some treat him as a  valuable possession.Some call him friend.And others even come to love him.
Relationships: Fujimaru Ritsuka/Everyone
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	1. Eternal Loyalty, Part One (Heracles)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there guys and gals, Jack here.
> 
> I've been thinking about this series for a good while, ever since I started coming up with flavour text pieces to accompany certain pictures I found regarding FGO. I feel like Bond Level 10 is rather criminally under-utilised in the game, because all it does as far as I'm aware of is give a CE. I'd like to remedy that and explore it a little more thoroughly if I can.
> 
> For those of you who frequent the Discord Servers where these get posted, hello again and nice to see you interested in my little story. For those newcomers out there, I hope you enjoy the story as well.
> 
> Each chapter will have a link to the 'source material' in question in question, assuming the character I'm writing about already has a flavour text written about them. If not and I'm just diving right in, then no link will be visible.
> 
> Well, that's the intro out of way, now to begin. Enjoy.

It was a relatively peaceful day in Chaldea, for once. One of the most peaceful they had experienced since before the Incineration of Humanity, and certainly well-earned.

The false King of Magic, actually Goetia, the King of Demon Gods and the first Beast of Humanity, had been defeated. His Singularities had been resolved and human history had finally been restored. It had taken a lot of time and effort from the remaining staff and the veritable army of Heroic Spirits they had eventually been able to summon, the majority hailing from the very Singularities they had been tasked with resolving, but Chaldea had succeeded in recovering all of the tainted Holy Grails and stabilising Humanity’s foundation.

Though the normal rules dictated that all summoned Heroic Spirits were to have their contracts annulled after the threat was dealt with, they had all stuck around anyway. For most, the decision was driven by the attachment they had formed with Chaldea’s last Master, Ritsuka Fujimaru, his seemingly endless reserves of kindness, patience and sympathy helping endear him to a great many of them.

As the Mages’ Association had found out, this unique bond between Chaldea’s Master and Servants had also turned those Servants quite... _protective_. After all, they’d had to watch their Master step foot on battlefield after battlefield, in Singularity after Singularity, and had to protect him from increasing danger every time. It was only natural that some of them had developed those instincts towards him, especially some of the more familial or knightly types.

Minamoto-no-Raikou, Archer EMIYA, Cu Chulainn, Boudica, Gawain, Arturia Pendragon, Jeanne D’Arc, Saint Martha, Heracles...at least one of them was always close by or keeping an eye on their Master if his ‘designated protector’ Mash was for some reason unavailable, which she rarely was.

The Association had intended on interrogating the organisation’s staff in the wake of the Incineration’s reversal. After all, they had summoned FAR more Servants than was agreed upon, along with breaking many other rules and threatened to expose Magecraft to the wider world. In an age where Mystery had already declined so far, the Association simply could not afford for Magic to become known to the ‘Muggle’ world. They wanted answers, and Chaldea was going to provide them, one way or another.

At least, that had been the intention in theory. In practice, however, they had barely even started the process before the Servants stepped in. The majority had taken quite a liking to Chaldea’s remaining staff, after all, and even those who hadn’t were quite enjoying their new lease on life and didn’t want to lose it. Thus, when the Association’s dispatched teams had attempted to forcibly dispel the Summoned Servants and begin the interrogations of the staff, they had found themselves facing Noble Phantasms from all sides wielded by rather angry owners.

In the end, the Association’s political power was utterly useless when faced with such might, not helped at all by the more moral Servants’ utter disgust for the amoral practices of modern Magi. It had only taken a few thinly veiled threats of the destruction and ruin that would be visited on them, should they continue attempting to punish Chaldea’s staff for something that was very much not their fault, for the higher ups to get the message and recall their teams. There had been a lot of complaints and calls for further action from the more unscrupulous Clock Tower Lords and Association higher ups, but those complaints tended to cease as soon as the complainer in question was encouraged to go and start the process _themselves_.

There weren’t any takers when it got to that point.

Chaldea, for their part, paid no attention to the workings, magical or political, of the Clock Tower and Mages Association. They were far too busy recovering from the past year and a half’s events, celebrating their victory over one of the Beasts of Humanity, working to find a way to revive all of the injured, cryofrozen Master candidates…and mourning the loss of another one of their own.

The loss of their Director, Olga Marie Animusphere, had been bad enough for the Staff’s morale, but the loss of their Head Medical Officer-turned-replacement Director Romani Archaman was even worse, especially at the very end of their journey. The Staff had taken his loss badly, especially Da Vinci, Ritsuka and Mash...though there was also one Heroic Spirit who had not coped nearly as well as the others. King David of Israel was also in mourning.

This was because Doctor Roman was, in fact, his son, Solomon. The Wise King of Israel. The King of Mages. A Servant who incarnated as a normal Human using the power of the Holy Grail he won in Fuyuki in 2004, driven by his desire to live his own life, free of the connection to God and the responsibilities of a King that had shackled him so tightly in his previous life. The various Servants, especially the Casters, had taken his loss badly, but David had taken it the hardest by far.

Ordinarily, the death of the Servant was nothing too much to be concerned with, as they could simply be re-summoned by Chaldea and brought back to the fight, albeit missing the memories and bonds forged by their previous incarnation. Of course, that was nothing a quick perusal of Chaldea’s archives and a few conversations with their fellow Heroic Spirits wouldn’t fix. They could be all caught up and back in the fight within the day. However, this was not the case for Solomon.

Despite Goetia having evolved far beyond his originally assigned purpose, he was still inextricably connected to his creator. His possession of Solomon’s physical body and nine of his God-given Rings of Magecraft, along with his use of Ars Paulina, Solomon’s Reality Marble where death itself simply ‘didn’t count’, as his primary base of operations meant that he and his Demon Pillars were functionally invincible. No matter how many times the invading Heroic Spirits cut them down, the Pillars would simply rise once more.

In order to separate them all from these magic systems and render them vulnerable, Romani had been forced to call on his final Noble Phantasm, activated from the single Ring of Solomon he had kept for himself, Ars Nova. All of his gifts and works had been returned to God, with Goetia losing control of Ars Paulina and his very existence destabilising as he was one of Solomon’s ‘works’ himself, never to appear on Earth again...including Solomon himself. His soul erased from the Throne of Heroes’ records and allowed to pass on to the afterlife, both King Solomon and Doctor Roman were no more by the time the dust had settled.

The Servants were crushed at how hard Ritsuka had taken the Doctor’s loss. The man had been a constant presence and his friendship had been a great source of support and strength for the teenager, the boy had taken to blaming himself for Roman’s death, insisting that he could have stopped it and beaten Goetia another way if only he’d tried harder to come up with another strategy.

It had taken a few weeks to pull Ritsuka out of the hole of self-loathing and guilt Chaldea’s last Master had dug for himself. Even now, they had to be careful what they said lest he relapse. However, he was finally both leaving his room and socialising with others beside Mash now, which was progress they did not want to lose. The Servants all secretly cherished interacting with him, especially the more amoral or evil-inclined ones who tended to be ignored or even scorned by other Heroic Spirits.

Currently, a group of them were in the cafeteria, discussing the funnier or more amazing moments of their past adventures.

“I still can’t believe we managed to beat Heracles.” Atalante admitted. The topic had recently turned toward the Okeanos Singularity, and the Huntress had been rather keen to air her thoughts on the matter. “Having served alongside him as part of the Argonauts and witnessed his feats of strength and skill firsthand...I never imagined that I would one day have to help defeat him.”

“Well, it probably helps that he didn’t have much of that legendary skill as a Berserker.” Artemis, the Goddess of the Moon, weighed in. “The only real problem was that God Hand of his! If I had my real body and my Divinity, I’d have blown through that no problem, right darling?”

“Yeah, yeah, we all know.” The Hunter-turned-teddy bear replied. “But even as a near-mindless force of destruction, that guy is SCARY strong and fast. Thank god for that David guy and his Ark, because I don’t think we’d have lasted long enough to finish him off all 13 times the way that fight was going at the end.”

“I suppose you can see now why Heracles was the pride of the Argonauts when we were alive.” Medea Lily pointed out. “He always had our captain’s full confidence and trust. If there was anything to be done, then it would be Heracles that was first considered. ‘There’s nothing Heracles can’t do!’ was what he always said.”

“It’s a pity he was summoned in that Class.” The nearby Hektor admitted, twirling Durindana idly in his left hand. “I’d have liked to see what the legendary Heracles could do as any of the others. Instead all he does is smash things with raw power...even if he still does it better than this old man ever could.”

“He might only be able to smash things, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t useful, you know?” Ritsuka spoke up. “And even with his Madness...sometimes I see hints of him in there. I remember in this village we were protecting...he avoided a little girl and attacked the enemies around her. Remember that, Mash?”

“Yes, Senpai.” The ever-loyal kouhai and Shielder Class Demi-Servant, Mash Kyrielight, replied. “Heracles-san protected her from everything that came her way and took a lot of effort to make sure she was okay. It’s astonishing, I’d never have expected someone with Madness Enhancement as strong as his to be capable of something so...graceful and deliberate.”

“Actually, it’s probably to be expected from him.” Atalante said. “Considering...what happened in his legend, I can understand why that desire to protect children would be so strong for him. And this isn’t the first time I’ve seen bits and pieces shine through his madness, either.”

“Really?”

“Mmmm hmmm, if you observe him closely, you can see bits of his old techniques shine through when he’s in battle. He’s not completely inelegant with that axe of his, you know? I still see him try to strike at weak points sometimes. It’s very brief, but if you’re looking you can see it.”

“Not to mention how he acts around you, Master.” Medea Lily added.

“Hmmm?” Ritsuka quirked his eyebrow in curiosity. “How he acts?”

“Yep! He’s attentive to you and misses Mash whenever you’re in combat. I can tell that he’s always got at least one eye on you when enemies are around...he really seems to care a lot about you, you know?”

“Oh. Well, I’m glad to hear that, to be honest. At least I know I can rely on him.”

“You’ve already been relying on him a lot, Senpai.” Mash chimed in. “You took Heracles-san into every Singularity with you, and many of the countless sub-Singularities we had to deal with as well. Even if you took a lot of Servants with you whenever possible, he was always your first pick for the team.”

“Well, Heracles is reliable, like Lily and Atalante said.” Ritsuka pointed out. “Even if I’ve had to re-summon him a couple of times when going through the Singularities, he’s rarely let me down. He always does his best for me, I can tell. I can’t help but...well, feel at ease around him. Like I’m safe with him around.”

“You’re not the first to feel that way, Master.” Atalante said. “Jason felt the same way, that’s why he always kept Heracles around him whenever we faced a lot of danger during the Argo’s voyages. Well, when he wasn’t sending him straight at the enemy, anyway.”

“You also treat him similarly.” Lily said, twirling her staff. “He’s not a tool to you. Or a legendary Hero. Or even a Demigod...it’s like he’s just another person that you happen to rely on.”

“Well, why wouldn’t I? I’ve got a whole lot of Servants by now, so I guess I just started seeing Heracles as ‘one of the Chaldea family’ you know? I might rely on him a lot, but I rely on other Servants too.”

“I think that’s why he’s so fond of you, Master.” Lily admitted, sighing. “He...confided in me once, that all anyone else saw when they looked at him was the son of Zeus...or a raging madman that slew his own family in a fit of rage. It was rare to find anyone who wanted to get to know the man beyond that. Even some of us Argonauts didn’t talk very much to him, beyond Captain Jason. A part of me wants to make amends, but with his current madness I don’t know how much he’d understand me.

“But for you to rely on him like anyone else... _treat_ him like anyone else, that’s a big show of kindness to him. It’s probably why he’s been so loyal, at least that’s how it looks to me. His loyalty went to Captain Jason for precisely that reason in our original life, after all.”

“And making use of him all the time, the way you have, there’s no way you’ve not bonded with him all the way by now, right Master?” Hektor said. “Even if he can’t exactly vocalise how he feels, I get the impression he’s happy to be around you. He seems...calmer, you know?”

“Bonding with Heracles, huh? Must be nice, bonding with someone who still has a body like that.” Orion groused, the teddy still a little upset at the loss of his form.

“Aaaww, don’t be like that, darling!” Artemis cooed, the Goddess snatching him up in a cuddle. “I love you just the way you are!”

“It’s your fault I’m the way I am!” The duo quickly fell into a minor fight as Orion struggled to free himself from the overly clingy Goddess of the Moon. “Hey guys, little help here?!”

To his dismay, everyone else at the table simply laughed quietly to themselves, making no effort to help him at all.

“Ah, to be young and in love.” David commented, a wistful look crossing the King of Israel’s face.

“Traitors! Traitors, the lot of you!” He cried, even as Artemis smothered him in kisses. “Master! Master! Have mercy on this poor bear! I promise I’ll be good!”

“Artemis, can you let up a bit on Orion please?” Ritsuka asked diplomatically. “He looks like he’s uncomfortable with what you’re doing.”

“Muuuu…fine.” Artemis reluctantly loosened her grip and stopped her kiss onslaught, though she still nuzzled him against her cheek. “Sorry darling, but I just got so happy that I-”

All of a sudden, a tremor ran through the floor.

“Mmm? What was that?” Hektor glanced around.

Another tremor, this time closer.

“Atalante, are you picking up anything?” Ritsuka asked.

There it was again, getting louder and stronger still, it almost sounded like…

“Footsteps.” Atalante murmured, animal ears swiveling to and fro. “It sounds like footsteps.”

“Who the hell has footsteps like THAT?!” Orion demanded, the plush teddy clinging onto Artemis for protection.

As if on cue, the cafeteria door was practically _barged_ _through_ and the various occupants were met with the one responsible, a veritable wall of muscle that radiated power and strength.

“Heracles!?” Came the chorus of confused and/or stunned voices.

The mighty Greek hero and most recent topic of discussion began to approach their table, with a large slab of stone held in one hand and a sharpened stone in the other, his trademark golden axe nowhere in sight.

“Heracles, what is it?” Medea Lily asked, ever worried about the health of her fellow Servants. “Is something wrong?”

Heracles said nothing, not that he really could anymore, but instead he lifted up the stone tablet and began to drive the sharpened piece of stone into it. As the others watched, the Berserker began to drag it back and forth, up and down across the stone, almost as if he was…

Eventually, he turned the tablet around to show the others, a low growl escaping his lips as he offered it to Ritsuka. The last Master hesitated for a moment before taking the tablet, peering at what he found as he struggled to balance its weight. Thankfully, Hektor stepped in to stabilise it for him.

The crude slashes and grooves were surprisingly legible, with Heracles having taken a surprising level of care to form them into readable words. It was shocking enough that he was capable of that sort of dexterity with his high level of Madness Enhancement, but what was more shocking were the words he wrote.

“ **Thanks for Master** ”

“Uh...you’re welcome.” Ritsuka replied, automatically, not really sure what else he should say. This was, after all, the first time he and Heracles had actually communicated in this manner. He was almost always too insane to talk normally. “But, what for exactly?”

When Heracles reached slowly for the tablet, he and an equally stunned Hektor handed it back to him. Bringing up the stone ‘pen’, the Berserker was about to continue his scrawls, before his eyes narrowed and he let out a harsh, aggressive growl of frustration.

“Heracles-san, what is it?” Mash asked, concerned. 

In response, he flipped the tablet back over to show the group that he had no more room to write anything else. Another angry snarl ripped from the Berserker’s mouth, even as Medea Lily got up and made her way over.

“Heracles, would you let me?” The young Caster asked. 

With a soft grunt, her former Argonaut comrade turned the tablet towards the girl, allowing her to get a better look at it. Raising her staff, Lily closed her eyes and focused for a few moments, muttering an incantation under her breath. The tablet glowed bright for a few moments as all the gashes began to fade, with a symbol carving itself into the upper right corner as they did.

“There we go.” Lily pointed to the symbol. “If you fill up the tablet again, just tap that symbol and the enchantment will restore the tablet again, so you can write more. Okay?”

Heracles’ response was to reach out a hand and, oh so gently, tap her on the head with two of his large fingers a few times.

“You’re welcome.” The Caster chirped, turning and skipping merrily back to her seat as the Berserker turned back to the tablet. Once more, he took his stone ‘pen’ in hand and began to carve new words.

“I’ve never seen him this articulate!” Artemis, ever the airhead, casually exclaimed. “I thought he was just a big dumb brute now, but there’s really some intellect remaining under there!”

“Hey!” Orion hissed in her ear. “Keep your voice down a bit, you want to get smashed flat by him?!”

Fortunately for the scatterbrained Goddess and hunter-turned-plushie, Heracles completely ignored them, focusing fully on writing out the next round of words. After a good minute and a half of scratching and slashin at the tablet, he turned it over to Ritsuka and Hektor again.

“ **Treats me normal** ”

“Huh...well how about that?”

Medea Lily had a surprisingly triumphant expression on her face at the news.

Another round of handing back and slashing at the tablet later, the ‘conversation’, such as it was, continued.

“ **Make a promise** ”

“Mmm? What sort of promise?”

This time, Heracles took extra time with what he wanted to ‘say’, not only making the words smaller and more delicate but also making sure to flip the tablet over so he could etch extra words into the back. Before too long though, the Berserker was finished and handing the tablet back.

“ **Will be there always, just call for me** ”

Ritsuka was quite thoroughly caught off guard by that. He wasn’t quite expecting that level of dedication from the insane Berserker, despite seeing glimpses of the real, sane Heracles beneath that raging storm of madness.

“Well...thank you, Berserk- no, Heracles. That means a lot to me. No matter how bad things get, I’ll still rely on you, I promise.” The young man insisted, smiling up at the hero.

Heracles’ response was to reach out and gently tap him on the head a few times, an honest to god _smile_ blossoming on his face. After a moment, he turned to Mash and Medea Lily, repeating the gesture on them as well. Both girls were surprised but didn’t resist, with Lily even beaming happily up at him while Mash just looked adorably confused.

“Thank you!” Lily reached up to pat the Berserker’s own hand as he withdrew it.

“Um, thank you, Heracles-san.”

With that, the legendary hero turned and began to stomp off, out of the cafeteria. The Servants and one Master all watched him go, still processing that he’d actually opened a communication with them for the first time since his summoning.

Ritsuka, though, was left in contemplation. Though the Singularities and Incineration of Humanity had been resolved, the young teen could not help but worry. At the back of his mind, a small voice was telling him that this was not the end, that there were more trials ahead to overcome...if that time ever came, he had no doubt he’d need to be ready. To be stronger.

Well, at least he had all of his Servants should that happen.

\---------------

“I’ve finished setting up the ritual circle, Senpai!”

“Hey, hurry it up back there! Those bastards are on their way here!”

“Yeah, I’m on my way!” Ritsuka called out, hurrying over as quickly as he could, wincing briefly at the bruises on his body that had yet to heal.

_How did it get like this?_

So much time, so much effort and so much advanced preparation just for this Lostbelt...all for almost nothing.

In hindsight, they had gotten a little complacent. The other Lostbelts had usually been slow to react to their presence, giving the Chaldea team time to scout the area, get the lay of the land and maybe even summon a Servant or two, if not enlist some of the wandering Servants already summoned by the Counter Force to dismantle the local Tree of Emptiness. That had not been the case here.

From almost the minute they entered Atlantis, the ancestral ocean of the Greek Gods, they had been set up by a flotilla of incredibly advanced-yet-ancient looking ships, helmed by none other than Odysseus and backed from orbit by Artemis.

The Nautilus had been wrecked by the Goddess’ bombardment in a matter of moments, while the rest of their fledgling fleet was torn apart battling the Atlantean navy force. Even Chaldea’s Servants had been brutally taken out of the fight, at the hand of a truly terrifying and thoroughly unforeseen opponent.

Typically, the various opposing Masters took no active part in the defense of their Lostbelt. How could they, when they were eclipsed in every way by the various Phantasmal, Demonic and Divine Beasts, Heroic Spirits and Divine Spirits that populated the regions the Trees of Emptiness sustained? They commanded from the rear and directed their Servants to fight for them. Though Akuta Hinako, or Yu Mei-Ren as she preferred, was a special case among the Crypters, even she needed to consume her own Servant’s blood and Spiritual Core to recharge her Xian powers enough to fight. 

Still, there was no way one of the human Masters could stand against even one Servant, right?

That assumption had been shattered into thousands of pieces when Ritsuka had met _him_ face-to-face for the first time.

Kirschtaria Wodime. Chosen heir to the Animusphere ‘Thesis’, whatever that was. The leader of Team A. So called ‘chosen one’ of the Foreign God. Crypter of the largest and mightiest Lostbelt that existed...and fully capable of crushing anything Chaldea could throw against him, mundane or magical.

He had arrived on a bolt of lightning in the middle of sea, standing in front of the rag-tag remnants of Chaldea’s initial force without fear. In fact, he seemed almost... _pleased_ . Ritsuka thought he caught a glimpse of _eagerness_ on the other young man’s face when their eyes met for the first time. Of course, the chaos that ensued made it difficult to be sure.

It had been almost hilariously one sided. The remaining Chaldean Servants had been batted away time and time again, throwing all they had against his magical barriers while he smote them with beams from the sky. They barely scratched even the first layer before the last Heroic Spirit disappeared, leaving only Ritsuka and Mash standing.

Ritsuka had faced impossible odds before, yes, but against Wodime, he had truly felt like a leaf being thrown around in a hurricane. Helpless to resist and utterly powerless before the storm. The only reason he and Mash had survived was thanks to... _The Chaldean._

The man with the face of their dearly departed Doctor, but not the eyes. Those were still familiar, though not for a particularly happy reason. Ritsuka had seen those eyes only a few times before, those were the same eyes…

He barely wanted to think about it. Not again. Not now...not after all the losses they’d taken so soon.

All of their initial team, wiped out by the Atlantean navy and Wodime’s intervention. They’d had to pull together any Heroic Spirits they could find to form the ‘Neo-Argonauts’, under the command of Jason, the sole remaining original Argonaut once Chaldea arrived.

And then one by one, the newcomers had fallen too.

Francis Drake had been killed in an orbital bombardment drawing Odysseus and Artemis’ attention away from Chaldea.

Chiyome had sacrificed herself, willingly being fed to the Titan Echidna and then activating all of her bloodline’s curses at once, crippling the Mother of Monsters and denying the Olympians access to the army she could produce.

Achilles had died holding back the Lostbelt’s version of Chiron and his accompanying soldiers.

Hektor died blocking an orbital strike from Artemis, and Mandricardo had eventually followed along in his idol’s footsteps, with the exact same weapon he’d salvaged from the former.

Paris had also sacrificed himself to become the arrow needed to strike down Artemis.

Bartholomew Roberts had burnt himself out by outrunning the Atlantean navy, simply to get Orion, the Grand Archer, into proper firing position.

Orion himself had fallen in a mutual kill, shooting down the Machine-Goddess with his final Noble Phantasm: Ortyga Amore Mio before dying in the retaliatory bombardment she had managed to launch before her body was critically damaged.

Finally, Jason had stayed behind on the collapsing, critically damaged Poseidon to hold off Chiron once more.

While Fujimaru was no stranger to Servant allies dying, there were always some survivors in the Singularities and the previous Lostelts, not even Tiamat’s rampage in Babylonia had been enough to finish off their supporting Heroic Spirits.

But here...everyone had died. Their entire support team from Chaldea AND the Counter Force-summoned Servants had given their lives just to get them this far. Even then, it was merely a _dent_ in the Lostbelt’s military strength as a whole. The whole of Olympus was against them, as were the remaining Machine-Gods, Wodime, and his Servants.

_Well...not all of the-_

“Oi, Master, you gonna use that circle anytime soon!?” Came the boisterous voice of Caenis, Divine Spirit-turned-Servant to Wodime-turned-renegade. Apparently, she’d not taken kindly to his decision to have the Dioscuri dispose of her...not that she’d been any kinder to Chaldea when Goredolf had found her.

It was only by offering her a croissant in a last-ditch effort to save himself from the angry Caenis, unknowingly invoking the Ancient Greek custom of _Sacred Hospitality_ in doing so, that Goredolf calmed her down enough to get her to listen. The Divine Spirit’s hysterical laughter at the absurdity of the bribe she was offered certainly helped speed that process, while also making her more amenable to negotiations. She had been positively _delighted_ to learn that Chaldea aimed to neutralise the remaining Greek Gods along with her treacherous Master, signing on without many more complaints.

_Alright, it’s time._ Ritsuka thought as he approached the magic circle. _But who do I want?_

He had an answer almost immediately. There was someone he really needed above all else. Someone he had relied on since his boots first hit the ground in _Fuyuki_...someone who had promised that he would always be there, if only Ritsuka would call him.

_Here we go._

Raising his hand as the circle began to light up, Ritsuka took a deep breath and yelled out.

“Heracles! I need your strength!”

Just as the words left his lips, the door to the group hideout, along with half the supporting wall, was blown inwards as the Olympians finally arrived.

\---------------  
  


The Master’s cry, from the moment it left his lips, reverberated across space and time, through the ethereal bridge that connected a world that should not be and a place outside of time and space itself.

All too soon, it reached the ‘ears’ of the Demigod himself. The Heroic Spirit felt his form shift as the link began to activate, pulling him forth to answer the summons. However, Heracles began to lumber ‘forward’ entirely on his own, intent on traversing the link and answering the summons as fast as possible.

Ordinarily, a Servant’s memories and experiences would not persist across separate incarnations, but somewhere in the depths of his soul, the ghostly memories of that same voice began to rise up and into his mind.

_“Alright, keep those enemies busy, Heracles!”_

Accompanied by snippets of another, more child-like voice that was also so familiar to him.

_“Get em Berserker!”_

More snippets. The Lostbelt was drawing closer.

_“Thanks for your help today, Heracles. You’ve earnt a rest if you want it.”_

_“Thanks for everything, Berserker.”_

He was almost to the end now, he could feel his Saint Graph start molding his physical form, ready to manifest.

_“No matter how bad things get, I’ll still rely on you, I promise.”_

_“Berserker can’t be beaten, he’s the strongest man in the world!”_

The bright light began to fade, the world around him swimming into view, with a very familiar face at the forefront. Were he not weighed down with Madness Enhancement, Heracles would have gladly smiled at the sight.

**Servant Summon Successful.**

\---------------

“C’mon! Come get some, you bastards!” Caenis snarled, the Lancer charging into the fray and attacking the closest Knight possible with her trident. The Knight, despite all of his enhancements from the Gods, was no match for a Divine Spirit and was quickly forced back under the brutal barrage of trident thrusts. Caenis grinned wolfishly and moved to press her advantage.

However, two separate swords came whizzing in to block her attack, wielded by two _very_ familiar faces. Faces that Caenis actively despised the sight of.

“Oh look, brother dear, the failure has come back for more.” Came the unrelentingly condescending voice of Pollux, one of the Dioscuri and fellow Divine Spirit serving Wodime, Caenis’ now-former Master.

“Indeed she has, sister, but I suppose she qualifies as a full traitor now, what with the equally pathetic company she’s keeping.” Castor said, that smug sneer of his seemingly welded right onto his face as he pushed Caenis’ trident back.

“Look on the bright side, at least this gives us the excuse to kill her now.”  
  


“It does, doesn’t it?”

With that, the twins proceeded to press the attack against their former ally, forcing Caenis onto the defensive. The Olympian Knights and accompanying automatons, taking advantage of her distraction, began to surge forward towards Chaldea’s members. Fortunately, they still had some Servants on their side to protect them.

“Damn it!” Kintoki called out. “All of you, c‘mon! We gotta protect Master!”

“Wait for me, Kintoki!” Raikou said, brandishing her own sword as she followed along.

“Come on then, to battle!!” The accompanying, now-sane Caligula agreed as the three Berserkers moved forward to engage the enemy.

“I’ll take you all on!” Mordred yelled out as she and Fran approached next, both Homunculi charging their weapons with lightning.

“They will feel the wrath of my lance.” Lancer Artoria Alter brought up the rearguard, blasting the enemy frontline with Rhongomyniad before charging into the fray.

Though the Servants put up a brave fight against the Olympian forces, ultimately the knights and automatons began to push them back through a combination of their sheer numbers, allowing them to more easily encircle their enemies, and the enhancements that allowed them to fight more evenly with Heroic Spirits than the previous Lostbelts’ forces. 

Chaldea’s forces found themselves gradually being hemmed in further and further, with the Olympian knights reaching closer and closer to their Master. Some of the knights broke off and began to encircle Caenis, forcing the Divine Spirit to split her attention between the new attackers and the Dioscuri, who both wasted no time pressing the new advantage presented.

_Damn, I can’t take all these idiots and those bastard twins at the same time!_ She thought, gritting her teeth out of anger. _Fuck it, if I’m gonna die, I’ll take as many of these God-worshipping cunts as I can!_

“Gah! We can’t hold them off!” Mordred growled out. “We gotta fall back!”

“The summoning ritual is still in progress, we MUST hold!” Lancer Alter insisted, swinging her charged lance in a wide arc to force the attackers back.

“Ufufufufu, you silly little humans, thinking you have a chance!” Pollux taunted. “Don’t worry, we’ll soon crush that notion, just like we’ll crush y-”

However, the Dioscuro’s taunt was washed away by a cacophonous roar.

**“GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!”**

Moments later, Chaldea’s formerly surrounded and outmatched Servants began to find themselves free to breathe and catch themselves, as the enemy soldiers were sent _flying_ backward groups at a time, which meant only one thing.

The summon was successful.

“What the hell was-” Castor began, only to stop himself and hurriedly fling up his sword to block the incoming golden axe aimed directly at his head. Even taking it dead on sent him stumbling backwards and it took a great deal of effort for the Servant to even stay on his feet.

“Brother!” Pollux’ moment of distraction allowed Caenis to regain the advantage, launch a brutal knee into her opponent’s gut, shield bash her over the head as Pollux doubled over and then kick her away.

Scrambling to their feet, the siblings and panicked knights struggled to reform the front line, only managing to partially form up again before the newly summoned Heracles began tearing into them. The Berserker swung his axe to and fro in a frenzy, sending legions of Olympian soldiers flying away as the hulking madman waded deeper and deeper into the enemy forces.

“Hell yeah!” Caenis cheered at seeing the havoc he was a wrecking, a large grin on her face. She had heard stories of Heracles from both Wodime and Odysseus, her Master regaling her of his adventures and legend in Panhuman History while Odysseus and told her of his exploits as part of the enemy Servant force under that coward Jason’s leadership. The Lancer had been especially eager to fight him after hearing of his blocking a head on orbital strike from Artemis without perishing to defend his fellow Servants, only to lament his death from a second strike.

Now, however, having him as an ally and seeing him singlehandedly turning the tide, and in the process forcing the insufferably smug Dioscuri to drop their arrogance as they were put on the defensive for once, gave her a thrilling rush that had her whooping as she dove into the fray once more.

With Heracles’ rampage scattering the enemy’s formerly ordered lines, Caenis had a much easier time picking off the Olympian forces. She thrust her trident forward time and again into any knight or construct that dared cross her path, occasionally mixing in some shield bashes and kicks for good measure. The more she advanced, the further back they retreated, only fuelling her sense of triumph.

“Yeah, that’s it! Go back to your master and hell him I’m coming for him! Nobody tosses ME aside! NOBODY!!” She snarled as she skewered the last Olympian knight she could see and flung him aside.

However, all too soon, a voice began to call for her.

“Oi, Lancer! We need to fall back and regroup!” Came the rough tone of Mordred as the Knight of Treachery came into view, beheading one of the remaining combat robots in the process.

“What!? But we’ve got these bastards on the run!” Caenis snarled, “I’m not leaving when I can finally kill those shitty twins! They need to pay for what they did to me! We’re almost done!”

She wasn’t wholly wrong. Almost all of the Olympian knights and automations had been killed or had withdrawn by now, thanks to the Servants’ combined efforts. All that was really left were the Dioscuri, both of whom were at least moderately injured by now, standing alone against the three Chaldea-aligned Servants in the street.

Still, Mordred would not be dissuaded.

“Alright fine, have fun dying when SHE shows up.” Mordred made to move back, only for Caenis to grab her arm.

“What are you on about!?”

In response, the blonde simply pointed up into the sky, Caenis followed her finger until her view settled on an unmistakable object slowly coming closer and closer.

It was Aphrodite, the Electronic Data Warfare-Type Attack Vessel-turned-Goddess of Love. The Goddess’ ‘Alethian’ (the term Chaldea used to describe the pantheon’s true selves) form’s wings began to open, emitting a blue aura of power that was visible even to the Servants far off on the ground.

“Shit, we gotta-” Mordred began.  
  
“Oh my… some ungrateful little mortals in need of a lesson from their betters.” A smooth, silky voice interrupted the Knight of Treachery, coming from a red haired woman who was flat-out _materializing_ in front of the Servants. Even Heracles came to a halt after finishing off the last of the Olympians’ forces, the Berserker temporarily transfixed by the sight in front of him.

Her dress was... _barely there_ , her upper arms, shoulders and stomach almost entirely exposed to the elements. A halo of yellow hearts danced around her head, flanked by four red wings, the back pair mounting _skulls_ on them.

Stepping forward, Aphrodite surveyed the battlefield while taking a short drag on the cigarette held in her left hand. Her mouth formed into a thin line as her gaze came to rest on the slightly hunched and battle-scarred forms of the Dioscuri.

“Mmmm, how disappointing that children gifted with the essence of the Divine cannot beat this _mortal rabble_.” The Goddess practically spat the last words out as if they were poison in her mouth, face visibly scrunching up in disgust for a moment. “Such a shame...kneel and beg for mercy for your failure.”

“We had everything in hand until that brute showed u-!” Castor began to snap, despite Pollux’s hurried attempts at hushing him.

Aphrodite’s eyes began to glow, the Divine aura around her flaring bright as her features twisted in contempt.

“I. Said. **Kneel**.” She said.

All of the Servants in the street found themselves forced to obey, dropping to one knee despite their attempts at resisting. Caenis’ whole body shook as she desperately attempted to fight the order, but even the Divinity and Authority she gained from Poseidon was outmatched by the will of the Machine Goddess. 

Mordred growled out in attempted protest, but one look from Aphrodite forced her mouth shut. Castor and Pollux were equally helpless, the latter inwardly cursing her brother’s lack of restraint and hoping their punishment would not be too severe. They knew how harsh the great Gods could be to those who did not meet their expectations. 

Though they all made a valiant effort at first, resistance from all the Servants quickly died down.

All of them, that is, except one.

Aphrodite could not help but look on, her expression a mixture of curiosity at the hulking man for his resistance to her command and utter _fury_ that this lowly Servant would **dare** to defy her will. Looking closer, however, she could not help but see similarities in his features.

_“Ah_ ...of course, Zeus’ offspring, back from the grave again I see. It matters little, now obey your Goddess and _kneel_.” Aphrodite commanded once more.

Despite his whole body shaking as his own indomitable will warred against his opponent’s mental command, Heracles pushed on, an aggressive snarl tearing from his lips as the Servant’s gaze focused solely on Aphrodite.

In the fight between curiosity and fury on Aphrodite’s face, fury quickly won out as Heracles drew ever closer. Her once beautiful features were now warped into a hateful snarl as she tried to bore holes into the approaching demigod with her gaze alone.

“You DARE mock me like this?! _Disrespect_ me like this?! **ME!?** ” She screeched, practically frothing at the mouth. “ **WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!** ” 

Her voice was booming through the entire city block that her Alethian form was presiding over now, with the other Servants crying out in pain as their eardrums were strained to bursting from the cacophony.

The Berserker’s response was to roar right back in her face as his right arm began to move. Though it was a jerky and sluggish movement, as if it was being heavily weighed down, Heracles raised his axe high into the air in defiance, intending to bring it down right on the Goddess of Love’s head.

Beads of sweat began appearing on Aphrodite’s head as she kept devoting more and more power to her compulsion aura, specifically to its effect on the man in front of her. However, no matter how much she amplified the effect, the Berserker she was facing down would not kneel, nor would he stop raising his arm.

_What...what sort of power is this!?_ She thought, a hint of panic creeping into her mind. _N-nothing with mortal blood can defy us like this! Nothing has EVER defied us like this!_

Gritting her teeth, the enraged Goddess began to channel all the strength she could muster into forcing the man in front of her to kneel. She no longer cared how much power it took, he WOULD submit to her and he would be _punished_ for _daring_ to defy her like this!

Unfortunately, Aphrodite’s razor-sharp focus on Heracles quickly turned into tunnel vision. So engrossed was she in amplifying her compulsion aura into full-on mental domination, she forgot that some of the power she was drawing in had already been in use elsewhere.

The Dioscuri, Caenis and Mordred all gasped, slumping down as the pressure on their bodies began to fade. The Lancer was the first to struggle up, casting a quick glance over at the now-distracted Goddess and still-advancing Berserker, before looping her arms around Mordred and hauling her in the direction of their temporary hideout.

“Come on….while he’s distracting that bitch, we gotta go!”

“Hey wait, we can’t just leave him!” Mordred protested.

“He’s giving us a chance right now.” Caenis insisted, gaze hardening. “If we stay here and get slaughtered, then his stand here won’t mean anything. So we gotta make this count.”

The Knight of Treachery wanted to argue, but she bit her tongue and relented. All of the other Servants were already retreating with Master anyway...it wouldn’t do to get left behind. Not in a Lostbelt as hostile and advanced as this one, anyway.

The duo hurried off, Mordred finally running under her own strength again, unhindered by anything. The Dioscuri were still shaking off the effects of Aphrodite’s compulsion and dealing with their prior injuries, while the Goddess herself…

“YOU. WILL. **SUBMIT**!!” She snarled one last time, visibly sweating from the exertion.

Heracles, his axe having reached the apex of its arc, answered by bringing his weapon down with as much strength as he could muster. 

A bloody squelching sound echoed through the street as metal met flesh.

Aphrodite stumbled back, blinking in shock at the deep gash in her neck.

Heracles swung again, this time tearing a chunk from her chest.

Another swing, practically splitting her head in two.

With a loud roar of aggression, the Berserker began stomping and jumping on her body. He would not stop until all that was left was a barely recognisable heap of torn flesh and twisted bone, surrounded by scraps of a dress and with mangled red wings sticking out of them.

“G-Goddess Aphrodite…” Pollux whimpered, as she and Castor looked on in horror.

“Fear not, my children.” A booming mechanical voice responded, coming from the giant ship currently hovering over their heads. “The loss of my terminal was merely a minor setback. I am quite unharmed.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Pollux let out a sigh of relief.

“As for **YOU…** ” Aletheian Aphrodite intoned, her attention fully on Heracles now. “It seems that compulsion was not quite enough to quell that primitive, violent mind…”

Heracles growled, preparing to spring as he drew back his axe, intent on taking the fight right to her.

“Perhaps **_pacification_ ** is necessary.”

And then, just as the Berserker hunkered down into a crouch, preparing to launch himself at her, Aphrodite began to sing.

\---------------

The Chaldea team had been running full tilt down the streets of Olympus, having taken the back exit out of the hideaway to escape in the commotion and beating a straight path to the Underworld, when Caenis’ animal ears had perked up.

Skidding to a halt and turning in the direction of the Aphrodite’s Aletheian form, her enhanced hearing let her pick up what was happening.

“Oh fuck…”

“Come again?” Mordred tilted her head.

“What is it, Divine Spirit?” Caligula asked. “Do you hear something?”

“...she’s got him in her ‘song’” Caenis growled. “He won’t last much longer, we gotta move faster!”

“We’re really just going to abandon Heracles-San like that?” Mash asked.

“What other option have we got? You really wanna go back there and try your luck against one of the Olympian Gods, shieldy?” Mordred clapped a hand onto the Demi-servant’s shoulder as she spoke. “Look, I know it sucks...but he stayed there to give us a chance to get away and try again.”

“I agree.” Lancer Alter cut in. “We must withdraw immediately, the Underworld is the only area that the Sky God’s surveillance cannot penetrate, yes? We can plan our next move there.”

“Come on then, everyone.” The Servants all turned to face Ritsuka himself, the Master already striding off with heavy steps. “There’s no time to waste.”

“Are you...are you alright, Senpai?” Mash asked, concerned.

Stopping in his tracks for a moment, Ritsuka turned his head to face her. His expression was grave.

“No. Not really...but I can’t stop moving forward, even with everything that’s happened. And it’s not like Heracles is the first Servant that’s sacrificed himself for us at this point, is it?” Though he tried to sound indifferent, the frown that crossed his face betrayed how Chaldea’s last Master really felt.

“You can mourn em all later.” Caenis assured him, surprisingly gently. “Right now, we should move on.”

“Uuuu! Uuu!” Fran agreed, the Berserker nodding her head.

“Yeah...let’s go.”

Even as the team started to move again, Ritsuka could not help but spare a thought for Heracles.

_Even if you’re facing down one of the Gods of Olympus on your own...I hope you’re holding out, Heracles._

\---------------

Heracles was screaming.

Aphrodite’s siren song, projected from her Aletheian form directly onto him, had forced him to his knees, his axe on the floor next to him as both hands were clamped firmly over his ears, desperately trying to shut out the sounds that burrowed their way into his head, carrying the Goddess of Love’s Authority with them.

His iron willpower would normally make most attempts at charming and brainwashing him ineffective. However, with much of his rational mind suppressed by the whirling storm of insanity stemming from his Madness Enhancement, the Goddess’ song had a far easier time finding purchase.

In the hero’s mind, Heracles’ remaining sanity and rationality drew inward, using whatever strength he had left attempting to protect himself from Aphrodite’s steadily encroaching Divine Authority.

_“Come, little mortal…submit. Let me re-educate you as to your folly.”_

Those words kept repeating, growing louder and louder all the while. Heracles grit his teeth, a pained growl slipping forth, even as he fought tooth and nail to hold onto himself, the Berserker could feel his control slipping…

_“Come on, Heracles, we need to help those people!”_

A memory. A piece of memory from before flashed before his eyes as a familiar voice resonated in his ears.

His current Master, who’d led him through saving all of history.

_“Listen to me! We don’t need those Gods’ favour, YOU don’t need it! I’ll find us a place where you can get the acceptance you deserve! As long as you stick with me, I’ll find that place for you!”_

… Jason, his friend from the Argonauts.

_"No... no… Berserker... Berserker... where are you? It hurts... let's stay together forever, right, Berserker?"_

White hair. Red eyes. Purple jacket with a skirt. She’d summoned him as part of some large ritual...

Illya.

All of these people...they’d given him the acceptance and kindness he’d wanted all his life. They’d treated him like a person...showed concern for him when he was injured. They’d relied on him, put their faith in him. Even when he failed, they’d still been kind to him. 

His current Master still needed him.

And here he was… falling before a member of the pantheon that had caused him so much pain.

The pantheon that, in this world, had dominated and controlled humanity for thousands of years.

Treated them like… _commodities._ Extensions of their will to be _used and discarded_.

It reminded him far too much of the worse parts his life… and it could **not** be allowed to continue.

In his mind, the Goddess’ Authority found it harder and harder to find further purchase as Heracles began resisting even more fiercely than before, drawing on strength of will that the hero himself had not been consciously aware of. The shattered embers of his sanity had grown into a small but fiercely roaring blaze, overriding Aphrodite’s attempts at pacifying him with both his righteous fury at the state of the Lostbelt and his unbreakable loyalty to his Master’s command.

Stuck, the Goddess’ Authority changed targets, attempting to pacify the only thing left to access… the raging storm of madness and insanity that scourged the Greek hero’s mind.

The three-way clash between sanity, insanity and Divine Authority grew more and more intense as Aphrodite, determined once more to force her opponent to bend to her will, steadily channelled more and more of her vast power into her song. The ferocious mental battle could not continue in stalemate forever, one of the warring forces had to give in.

The soothing song against the furious madness. Louder and louder… stronger and stronger… until-

_Snap._

… … 

_“... finally.”_

At the same time, the Dioscuri, mostly from their earlier injuries, had been approaching the prone Heracles, who had finally removed his hands from his ears and was simply kneeling on the ground. His struggles and shaking from earlier had seemed to cease, which prompted Aphrodite to cut off her song as well, there was no sense to waste her energy on a defeated opponent.

Pollux was more cautious, weapon at the ready. Castor, on the other hand, swaggered towards his opponent, his cocky smirk on full blast and all his earlier caution thrown to the wind.

“Hmph. What a pitiful but expected sight, the mindless madman bowing to his superiors.” Castor said, derisively spitting on the Berserker as he raised his sword.

“Brother, be careful.” Pollux warned, her gaze flitting between Heracles’ hands and axe all the while.

“Hmph. What can he do sister? The brute’s helpless after the Goddess’ assault, just watch as I-”

For the second time, Castor was cut off. This time, he felt his legs get swept out from under him by a brutally swift one-handed swipe to his ankles. After a brief moment of weightlessness, a knee slammed into the small of Castor’s back, followed up by a fist smashing down onto his chest. Then again… and again.

His spine gave way after four hits.

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” Castor’s scream echoed through the street.

“BROTHER!” Pollux cried out.

The female Dioscuro charged forward, swinging her sword directly at the Berserker’s head. However, her sword hand was only halfway to the target before Heracles’ own hand shot out once again, wrapping around her wrist and twisting it hard as the hero rose to his feet at last, his other hand holding the limp Castor like a ragdoll.

Pollux quickly changed tacks, dropping her blade and lashing out with her free hand, aiming a punch at Heracles’ gut. With matching speed, her opponent released her wrist and intercepted her hand, forcing it to the side. A muscular leg was swung at her chest, forcing Pollux to hold her arms up to protect herself. The sheer force of the strike sent her sliding back, churning up the ground under feet in the process.

Wiping her mouth, Pollux took a boxing stance, preparing to fight the Demigod that currently held her brother. Heracles, surprisingly, made to do likewise, even taking a familiar combat stance...until Aphrodite’s Aletheian form began to power up again.

All it took was a single glance upward at the Machine Goddess, her mechanical wings unfurled and charged with energy, for Heracles to decide to throw the limp Castor directly at Pollux, forcing her to stop and catch him long enough for the Servant to disengage.

“Gaah! That bastard! I’ll kill him!” Castor spat out, trying and failing to sit up.

“Brother, please rest! We can go after him later, but right now you need medical attention!”

As she finished speaking, Castor was surrounded by a blue energy field that began to lift him out of Pollux’s hands. Though both of them did panic a little at the sudden action, they calmed just as quickly when they noticed the field was emanating from Aphrodite above them.

“Do not struggle, young Castor. I will bring you to Demeter, her ambrosia fruits can heal any injury. We need all of our servants at full strength to crush these invaders, after all.”

With that, Aphrodite began to ascend into the sky, the prone Castor still caught in her energy field, leaving Pollux alone.

As she moved to collect her and her brother’s weapons, Pollux could not help but reflect on her earlier standoff with Heracles. At the moment she’d looked into his eyes. She’d _seen_ something in those eyes, in the gaze they’d levelled towards her. She’d tried not to show it in the moment...but she had felt a little scared.

For it was not madness she had seen in those eyes.

  
It was _intelligence._


	2. Eternal Loyalty: Part Two (Heracles)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chaldea group advances their plans, deals with unexpected losses and faces off against one of the Olympian Gods.
> 
> Heracles unleashes his full-powered Nine Lives for the first time.

“Can’t believe we’re in the  _ actual Underworld _ .” Mordred said, for what felt like the fourth time since they’d got there.

“What do you expect, the Age of Gods never ended here, so all those places you think are just myths are physically here still.” Caenis explained. “I mean, we’re standing in freaking  _ Mount Olympus itself _ , ain’t that enough proof for you?”

“...fair.” The Homunculus conceded. “Alright then! So what’s next?”

“Well, I dunno what your Master wants to do, but I’d suggest that we go after Hephaestus first.” Caenis suggested.

“Hephaestus?” Holmes chimed in. “My dear, as far as I am aware, the Smithing God is currently stuck within the Atlantis archipelago.”

“Yeah,  _ half  _ of him is. The  _ other _ half’s being used to help create and maintain a lot of the advanced tech around here. Mast-... my  _ former _ Master took me to see the Maintenance Core Temple a few times.”

“Interesting… I shudder to think what sort of weapon the Olympians have in their arsenal that would allow them to cleave Hephaestus in two like they did.” The great detective admitted.

“It wasn’t any of the other Gods.” Caenis admitted.

“Huh?” Mordred tilted her head quizzically.

“Then what, or who, is responsible?” Raikou wondered.

“They must be golden strong to pull that off!” Kintoki cut in. “Hope we don’t run into ‘em!”

“Might be a problem there, golden boy...he’s apparently one of the emissaries for my ex-Master’s benefactor.” Caenis said.

“...so, he works for the Foreign God, then.” Holmes confirmed. “We will likely need to face him at some point. And since it is a ‘he’ we are dealing with, then it must be either Father Kotomine or that Douman fellow from the India Lostbelt.”

“I hope it’s that fake priest!” Da Vinci’s cut in, voice filtered through the comm device on Ritsuka’s face, turning everyone’s attention to the Master himself, who had been rather quiet and melancholy thus far. “I need to pay him back for ruining that perfectly good old body of mine!”

“We will, Da Vinci, we will.” Ritsuka assured her, softly.

“Are you...are you okay, Senpai?” Mash asked, always the first to pick up something that might be bothering her Master.

“..... no. No, I’m not. ” Ritsuka admitted. “How can I be, when we just keep losing people?”

“Senpai…”

“All the first Argonauts. Drake. D’eon. Sanson. Chiyome. Hektor. Mandricardo. Roberts. Orion. Even Jason! They’re all gone just to get us this far and we’ve barely made a dent in the enemy!

“And now Heracles is gone, AGAIN, after everything we did just to summon him!” Ritsuka angrily kicked at the ground, aggression surging into his posture and voice. “All for this! This tiny little pocket of safety in a whole city that’s out to get us! Just...how the hell are we supposed to win if we lose so many allies to even get this far!?”

Most of the Servants, minus Caenis, Lancer Alter and Caligula, all recoiled slightly at the sudden outburst...however, before any of them could try and respond, their attention was drawn to a new voice.

“Rest assured, Master, we will find a way.”

The proclamation was loud and deep, reverberating around them even as the Servants of the party began to draw their weapons, turning this way and that trying to find the source...especially since it was accompanied by heavy footfalls.

“Who are you?” Mash asked.

“Yeah, friend or foe?!” Mordred called out.

“Am I really that forgettable?” The voice asked, clear humour in its tone, the footfalls sounding remarkably close now.  “We were comrades in arms an hour or so ago.”

In short order, the figure itself finally stepped out from behind a nearby pillar and began to approach them. 

The tall, hulking physique that now retained a slight softness in the musculature. The waves of unkempt dark hair that seemed to undulate in a breeze. The bright eyes that no longer glowed a deep red or were a mass of shadow. The surprisingly gentle face, they were all instantly recognisable despite the slight changes they’d undergone...

The group’s jaws quickly began descending as they realised who exactly was in front of them.

“Woah...”

“No way.”

“Uuuu!”

“Quite remarkable indeed…”

“Holy shit.” Caenis summed up the group’s reaction best. “You’re-”

“Heracles!” With almost no warning,  _ Ritsuka _ of all people practically tore forward and tried to hug the behemoth, who was quick to place a hand on his shoulder in lieu of a proper embrace. “You’re still alive!”

“We thought you were a goner, what with goin’ up against one of those Gods by yourself!” Mordred cut in.

“ Of course I am, I am quite difficult to kill, you know.”  Heracles’ smiled reassuringly down at his Master.  “Not that our enemies didn’t make a valiant effort.”

“If I may interject, how is that you can speak?” Holmes asked. “In all our interactions in Chaldea...well, you were never capable of speech. I’m curious as to how you managed to regain your sanity.”

“I think I can answer that.” Caligula cut in, looking directly at Heracles himself. “You heard the song of the Love Goddess too, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

Caligula couldn’t help but smile a little at that. “It seems that her power does not agree with our madness.”

“Indeed. But I’m afraid there is little time to waste with pleasantries, Master.”  Heracles turned back to Ritsuka.  “What is our next move? I overheard something regarding Hephaestus.”

“Uh, y-yeah.” Rituska fumbled a bit as he disengaged from Heracles, still trying to get used to the Berserker being  _ sane _ . “Apparently Hephaestus is being used to manage a lot of the advanced tech in Olympus...Kintoki, you mentioned a mech you were helping create?”

“Yeah I was!” Kintoki perked up. “We wanted to use it against the Gods, but the others were all killed before we managed to properly ready it! We got the main body all finished up, but it just needs a proper weapon! Once we get that, it’ll really be GOLDEN!

“...then we can go and get one from Hephaestus’ armory. That’s the plan. Then, we can use the mech to start fighting the Gods properly.” 

Another thought occured to Ritsuka, the Lostbelt team had also mentioned a Summoning Ritual they’d been preparing earlier on. “We can find the remaining Divine ley lines and plant the remaining summoning arrays too. That way, if we really need it, we can try and summon a Grand Servant to help out too.”

“ That sounds as good a plan as any...should the Dioscuri show up, you may leave them to me.”

“What about the Gods themselves? If one of them shows up before we finish that mecha…” Lancer Alter commented, a touch of worry in her tone.

“If worst comes to worst, then...well, we were always planning on using it anyway-” Rituska turned to Mash. “-Mash, show them our new teeth.”

“Yes, Senpai! Beginning deployment!”

Soon, Mash’s augmented shield began to expand outward, unfurling a frighteningly large gun from the inner workings as the Servants watched. It was so large that Mash needed to grab it with both hands to aim it properly or even just to hold it upright so it didn’t topple over. One of the capacitors acted as a replacement for the curving buttstock on a typical gun, while the other one protruded from the top and ran parallel to the main cannon.

The barrel itself was thicker than even Heracles’ arm, spanning the length of five to six whole people if they were lying down. The cannon was a deep black and ringed with red lines running along the machinery, in much the same manner as Gilgamesh’s strongest weapon, Ea, for those who had both met the King of Heroes and remembered that meeting.

“Woah...what a gun!” Kintoki breathed.

“I uh...kinda feel like my swords ain’t gonna do much compared to that.” Musashi chipped in, the samurai, for perhaps the first time in her life, looking upon a ranged weapon with a bit of envy.

“Hey Master, can i have a go on that!?!” Mordred cried out excitedly.

“Uh...that’s not really a good idea, Mordred.” Ritsuka tried to calm her down, looking a tad uneasy at the prospect.

“Is it just me, or does that gun feel a tad...wrong to look at?” Lancer Alter asked.

“Uuuu! Uuuu!” Fran agreed.

“There is something...threatening about it, besides it being a weapon of great strength.” Raikou muttered. “But I can’t say what.”

“Well, that might be because this weapon was designed to, in Miss Sion’s own words, ‘impose the notion of limited life-span into the body of near-immortal creatures and disintegrate all instances of  _ Grain _ and  _ Ether _ they come into contact with’.” Holmes explained.

“So, this gun can kill Gods...right?” Caenis asked, looking downright  _ excited _ at the prospect.

“Yes, that is why we brought it here. And that is also why you might find it dangerous to even be around.” The detective continued. “One full blast from this weapon will almost assuredly kill just about anyone or anything targeted with it, as long as they possess a scrap of magical energy of some sort.

“That is why Miss Kyrielight is the one most suitable in our current party to wield it, as a mere Demi-Servant rather than a full Servant or Magus, the Black Barrel poses the least threat to her to fire...but it is still very dangerous to use, of course.”

“It also uses Command Spells.” Ritsuka cut in. “Which means we’ve only got three shots-”

“And there are three Gods here right now.” Caenis interrupted, openly grinning with her eyes shining. Her visage had turned murderous, but they could tell that her hostility was not directed at anyone currently present. “You know, I was only in this to get back at my ex-Master, but NOW. Now… if you’re out to really kill the Gods… then I guess I’m in for the long haul! What’s the plan, boss?!”

Caught a little off guard at his former enemy’s enthusiasm, Ritsuka fumbled for a moment before answering. “Well, we need to arm the mecha that Kintoki and the others started before we got here to stand a decent chance, so first things first is heading to Hepaestus and seeing about getting a weapon from the Maintenance Core Temple! Then we’ll focus on hunting the Gods themselves. We won’t have much of a shot at taking out the Tree of Emptiness with them still around.”

“Just like that, huh? Well, what are we waiting for!?” Mordred called out.

“My blade is yours, Fujimaru-kun!” Musashi insisted.

“We’ll move on your order, Master.” Lancer Alter hefted Rhongomyniad, standing at attention.

“Master… will… succeed. I… know… he will!” Fran, in a rare occurrence, spoke up, brushing aside her bangs to show the determination in her gaze.

“I suppose we are all in agreement then.” Holmes smiled. “The odds may be against us, Master, but you still have us at your side.”

Ritsuka smiled at all of the assembled Heroic Spirits, filled with a new sense of purpose and resolve. A moment later, his attention was shifted as a very large hand laid itself gently on his shoulder.

“And I will aid Miss Kyrielight in keeping you from harm.”  Ritsuka looked up, meeting the gaze of Heracles, who returned his smile with a gentle one of his own.  “I will show the Olympians the power that comes from wielding strength AND skill together… and I will repay my debt to you however I can.”

“Alright then, let’s move out!”

As the other Servants began to make their way out of the Underworld, Heracles approached Caenis and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hmm?”

“I will stand guard once we access the armory, when you plunder it, would you bring back something for me?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, what’s it you’re looking for?”

“Well…”

\------------

“The invaders have almost reached the Divine armory! We must ho-aaagghhh!!”

“Hah, think you’re gonna stop us!?” Caenis snarled, swinging her trident in a wide arc to scatter the line of soldiers in front of them. “C’mon, gimmie a challenge!”

“I know you’re trying to enjoy yourself, Caenis, but please remember we’re on a mission here!” Mash called out from besides Ritsuka.

“Ah, comon! There’s not much to worry about from these guys!” Musashi cut in, the samurai lopping off a nearby automaton’s head with practiced ease with dodging retaliatory laser fire from its fellows.

“Be that as it may, we are on a mission here, so be cautious.” Heracles insisted, backing up Mash’s position. The Greatest Greek Hero had been assigned to the rearguard, thanks to his new sanity and resulting skill making him far,  _ far _ more adept at both handling masses of opponents, even more so than he had been before, and anticipating any ambushes ahead of time.

Even now, most of the Servants in the group were still trying to get used to the new Heracles. They were all so familiar with the raging, voiceless Berserker, that the sane, skilled and thoughtful man underneath the Madness Enhancement was thoroughly disconcerting to interact with.

All too soon, the last defender had fallen, and the group came to the armory doors proper. As expected, they were tight shut and it would take some time to get through them. Luckily, the other Servants were fighting a delaying battle outside of the complex itself, buying the raiders enough time to crack their way in.

“They’ve locked it down tight.” Caenis growled.

“ I can deal with the door, but the magical wards I sense active are another matter. ”

“Leave it to me!” Musashi stepped forward, sheathing her katana and standing with her hands balled into fists at her side. “I’ve honed my body for this one strike! Nothing can withstand the power of the void!”

Caenis looked confused, Heracles looked intrigued at the swordswoman’s stance, but they stepped back regardless.

Clearing her throat and narrowing her eyes, Musashi began to speak.

“Namu, Tenman Daijizai Tenjin! With my blade, I shall sever your essence! This sword is my path to the void, my very life!” 

As she spoke, a large translucent figure, the Divine Figure of Kurikara, began manifesting behind her, four blades of his own carried in four arms. As Musashi’s chant continued, the figure began pummelling the armory door, one strike for each arm and sword.

By the time the last strikes had landed, Musashi had drawn her own blade. Standing stock still, blade parallel to her body, the swordswoman paused for a single moment, then slashed down at the door with a yell.

“ **Ishana, Daitenshou** !”

The corridor was flooded with white light from the blowback of her strike.

As the light dissipated, the group could see that the armory door was partially caved in, a few magical symbols and sigils were illuminated on the door, glowing dimly as they worked desperately to keep the door’s protection intact. The rest of them had been sliced clean through by Musashi’s strike.

“Darn! I didn’t get all of them!” Musashi griped, keeping her blade out and sighing.

“ You did enough.”  Stomping up to the door, Heracles swung at it with his axe.

A screeching metallic clang echoed through the hall as the door shuddered under the Grecian’s assault.

Once. Twice. Three times. After the fourth strike, a large gap had been torn in the door, large enough for Heracles to sheathe his axe and simply start pulling the door frames apart with his bare hands. To the Olympians’ credit, it took him a couple of yanks, but their engineering quickly gave way to Demigod strength, allowing Heracles to open a hole large enough for them all to fit through comfortably.

Of course, the moment he poked his head through the hole, to check if the way was clear, was the moment a fist was flung at his face.

Heracles was sent skidding across the floor with the force of the blow, even with his arms brought up to block it. Opening his arms, he saw two very familiar figures standing in front of the door.

“Well well well. The filthy little Humans, back again!” Castor sneered, swirling his sword threateningly.

“I’ve been itching for a rematch with you.” Pollux giggled, eyes narrowed to pinpricks and a demented smile on her face as the girl cracked her knuckles. “You won’t run away from me  _ this _ time.”

“You bastards again…” Caenis growled, whacking her trident against her shield challengingly. “What, you didn’t learn your lesson after the big guy here beat your asses last time?” Off their mildly shocked looks, the Lancer decided to keep up the bragging. “Yeah, he told us on the way here, told us how he broke your scrawny brother like a twig.”

“You’ll DIE for that remark, filthy traitor!” Castor snarled.

Pollux, however, was much calmer. “Ufufufu, that was last time, before we received these gifts from our Gods.” 

As she finished speaking, the brawler slammed her palms together, causing golden patterns to start appearing over her skin. Castor followed suit, with similar patterns appearing all over his body.

“Nanite augmentations from Lord Zeus himself.” Pollux grinned savagely. “Gifts that will let us stamp you out like the insects you are.”

Musashi flinched a little. She could barely handle the Dioscuri the last time she fought them, despite her peerless swordsmanship and her mastery over her ‘Zero’ technique. How would she keep up now? 

Heracles, in his newly sane state, took pause for a moment. His maddened self would have simply charged screaming at the Dioscuri regardless of augmentations, but now he couldn’t simply ignore the threat of his opponents’ new enhancements. He’d need to fight a little to gauge how potent they truly were...then he could decide how best to handle them.

“Bring it on, bitch!” Caenis, in contrast to her peers, looked utterly unfazed. “I’ll rip those machines right out of you and-”

“ You must clear the vault.”  Heracles interrupted her, already shifting to a combat stance of his own.  “Lady Musashi, engage Castor. Lady Kryielight, defend our Master.”

“Yes, Heracles-San!” Mash complied immediately, moving to stand between Ritsuka and the Dioscuri.

“Oi! What makes you think you can tell me what to d-” Caenis was far more belligerent and less compliant, outrage crossing her features as she started to protest.

“ Our mission is more important than any personal desires. Even yours. ” Heracles continued.  “The guards will likely attempt to extract or destroy anything they believe we can use against them. Deal with the guards and security mechanisms before that happens or our efforts will be for nothing.”

Caenis growled, looking conflicted as she tightened and then relaxed her grip on her shield and trident a few times. Taking a few fortifying breaths, she made her choice.

“Ey, boss….try not to die before I get back, alright? You’re...you’re an okay guy, yeah? Hate to see you bite it now.” With that, the Lancer broke into a sprint and headed towards the Temple entrance. Castor moved to intercept, only for Pollux to hold him back, letting Caenis vault over the duo and access the Maintenance Temple.

“What are you doing, sister?! We can’t just let her-”   
  


“It’s alright, dear brother. We’ll have an easier time with these fools without the traitor being among them, then we can deal with her afterwards.”

“Alright then, but I want the killing blow.”

“Of course.”

With that, the Dioscuri launched themselves at Chaldea’s Servants, and the battle was on.

Heracles’ fist met Pollux’s head on, with the impact slowing both of them to a stop while the feedback rattled the bones in their arms. Thankfully, both of their Demigod physiques and Pollux’s nanite enhancements minimised the damage. Undaunted, they began to trade blows, with both fighters ignoring the shockwaves that reverberated through the corridor at their fists meeting over and over again.

“Yes! YES! Finally, an opponent who doesn’t break so easily!” Pollux’s manic grin was fixed in place as she spoke. “Show me your worth!! Fight with everything you have, at least I can get a good fight out of you before I break you!!”

In response, Heracles launched into a backflip, lashing out with an uppercut using his feet. Unfortunately, Pollux simply threw up her arms, reinforcing the limbs with Divine nanites to absorb the force of the blow. Thus, she recovered before Heracles came back down, allowing the Dioscuri twin to rush the Demigod and hit him in the chest a half dozen times before he could fully recover.

Powering through the pain of the impacts even as the nerves in his chest and ribcage screamed at him, Heracles smacked aside the next punch, wrapped his free hand around Pollux’s other, incoming arm as the latter stumbled from the former’s counter, and followed up by rapidly hitting her in the arm over and over again.

Despite the hurricane of blows that Heracles was able to land, with the nanites reinforcing her body, Pollux was barely injured. However, the sheer concussive force her opponent exerted with his blows stunned her for a moment. Heracles immediately took the opportunity to sweep her legs from under her and chokeslam the Dioscuro into the ground. While Pollux tried to recover from the impact, the Berserker hurled her into the air, jumped up to meet her as she came down and spin-kicked her down the corridor with surprising agility.

Pollux flipped in mid-air, ensuring that she landed feet-first, smashing apart the corridor’s floor in the process as she slid to a halt, facing her opponent in a primal stance. There was almost no visible damage to her body anywhere, every injury Heracles had inflicted had been swiftly healed over by her augmented biology. That grin was still in place… only even more deranged than last time.

“Ufufufufu! You see!? Lord Zeus’ gifts make us invincible!” She bragged, attacking once more.

Over on the other side of the corridor, however, Musashi was not doing as well.

Lacking both the biology of her Demigod ally and the nanite augmentations of their opponents, the sword saint found herself quite thoroughly on the defensive. It was only her strangely potent Magic Resistance Skill and her ridiculously well-honed reflexes that kept Castor from being able to injure her too badly. Nonetheless, Musashi could feel herself weakening, slowly but surely, with every clash of their blades.

It did not help that her katana was not suitable for outright blocking, forcing Musashi to parry and dodge constantly, while Castor simply swung his sword at her again and again, the enemy Servant’s features twisted into savage anger even as he gazed right past her. Just from the path of his gaze, the sword saint guessed that he was glaring at Ritsuka, for whom he seemed to reserve a special enmity. 

Another parry, another minor tremor up her arms from the blowback. Try as she might, Musashi could feel her feet slipping as she lost ground. She couldn’t even use her Noble Phantasm, it would take far too long and her opponent would cut her down long before she finished invoking it even at minimum strength, much less using the full chant to power it up. 

_ Agh! Much as I hate to admit it, this guy’s got me completely outclassed! I gotta think of someth- _

“Musashi-san! I’ll help you!” Came Mash’s voice as the Demi-Servant approached the duelling Servants, raising her shield and powering up her Ortinax Suit.

A dangerous gleam entered into Castor’s eye at the sight of her… or rather, at the realisation that with Mash engaging him, Ritsuka himself might as well be wide open.

“Mashu, don’t! Go back and protect Fuji-AGH!!” Musashi’s warning was cut off as Castor, in a disturbingly reckless move, simply allowed Musashi’s next strike to hit him directly in the chest, the golden pattern around the wound indicating that he’d re-directed his nanite protection to absorb most of the damage. 

Taking advantage of the swordswoman's distraction as she attempted to extract the sword, he grabbed her by the neck and threw her aside before charging a shocked Mash. The fact that Musashi’s blade was still buried in his chest did not seem to slow Castor down very much.

Mash swung her shield in an attempt to block Castor’s charge, only for him to surprise her once more by catching the shield in his hands, golden patterns forming on his palms and spider-webbing up his arms as Zeus’ nanomachines went to work reinforcing his strength. Castor pushed the shield aside, causing Mash to stumble and before she could recover, he delivered a vicious knee to her chest that sent her skidding backward, following up with a flurry of sword strikes that left frighteningly deep grooves in the Ortinax suit.

Heracles attempted to move to assist, but Pollux interrupted him with an axe-kick to the head to stun him for a moment, then a nanite-reinforced palm strike that sent the Demigod flying down the corridor.

Mash, her suit sparking and cybernetic enhancements compromised, weakly swung her shield one last time.

Castor lazily sidestepped it and punched her in the chest, sending her tumbling down the corridor. She tried to pick herself up, tried to stand…

Only to flop limply down to the floor.

“MASH!!” Ritsuka cried, raising his left hand as he prepared to invoke a Command Spell. It would mean one fewer uses out of the Black Barrel, their trump card, but he wasn’t about to lose anyone else! Especially not someone as irreplaceable as Mash!

“By the power of this Command Spell, I order-”   
  


His words were cut off as a hand wrapped itself around his throat and hoisted him into the air. Struggling weakly, Ritsuka found himself face-to-face with both Castor’s sword and triumphant, smug smile.

“Hehehehe, what’s the matter, weakling? Are you finally realising just how foolish it was to challenge the Gods of Olympus?” He taunted, kneeing Ritsuka brutally in the gut.

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to kill you right away… we’re going to hunt down and kill all those other Servants of yours first. Then, we’ll torture you, keeping you alive  _ just _ long enough to see Lord Zeus’ grand plans come together. Only THEN will we kill you, because only then will you understand just how much of a  _ failure _ you are.”

“Let him go!” Musashi, having finally recovered and with her backup blade in hand, carefully approached the Dioscuro, who turned his own blade on her with a sneer on his lips.

“I wouldn’t try that if I were you, mortal.”

“Or what? You’ll kill Master? You already said you want him alive.”

“I did.” In an instant, Castor’s blade shifted to Ritsuka’s left arm. “...but I have to say, I’m surprised at how much damage humans can live through before expiring…”

He said nothing else, but the threat was clear enough. Musashi growled in anger, but made no other moves.

“S-senpai…” Mash had finally managed to push herself up into a kneeling position. She’d already caught sight of her Master held captive, heard Castor’s threats and promises. She was desperate to protect Ritsuka… she didn’t want to fail again, not now! There had to be something! Something better than her shield, anything!

A since glance at said shield gave her a grim realisation. There  _ was _ something else she hadn’t tried yet.

It was only the full-power Black Barrel that needed Command Spells, after all. The lesser Barrel Cannon worked just fine without them.

Assuming a firing position, Mash began the deployment sequence.

“I guess we’re at a standoff then.” Musashi narrowed her eyes, only to be met with a bark of laughter from Castor.

“Kuhahahaha!! Oh, is that what you think!? Lady Aphrodite is on her way here right now, she’ll deal with those weaklings outside, and then the full might of the Olympian army will swarm this building and deal with the rest of you! You don’t stand a… a…”

He trailed off mid-boast, eyes narrowing to pinpricks and sweat erupting across his forehead as he caught sight of Mash, Barrel Cannon deployed and charging up… aiming right at him. Musashi, once she shifted her gaze, had a similar reaction. As did Pollux from a few feet away.

They were transfixed, as if they were deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

Castor and Pollux had seen guns before, of course, of all shapes and sizes. Aged, modern and futuristic alike, wielded as weapons by several among the veritable swarm of Heroic Spirits that had been summoned to their Lostbelt by the Counter Force, as a panicked effort to pre-emptively neutralise the greatest threat to Humanity it had detected yet: Atlas, the blooming and expansive Tree of Emptiness that was the closest to maturation and the most likely manifestation point for its sinister master.

There had been little to fear from those guns in Castor and Pollux’s minds, they were fragile tools wielded by equally fragile humans, a pathetic crutch to be used by the weak. They were nothing next to Divine might.

So why… _ why _ did they hesitate now? Why did their hearts begin to beat so fast? Why did chills run up their spines? Why was it a chore to even look directly at that… that  _ weapon _ ?  _ Why _ did it feel so  _ wrong _ to look at, so  _ threatening _ ? Why was every one of their primal instincts, every impulse related to ensuring survival,  _ screaming _ at them over and over again to drop what they were doing and RUN?

For a brief few moments, the Dioscuri felt a crushing fear. For a brief few moments, they hesitated.

It was the opening he needed.

Pollux, so deeply distracted with the threat of the Black Barrel, only noticed the grey-black blur shooting past her and barrelling towards her brother and the captive Ritsuka until it was far too late.

His golden axe already unstrapped and in hand, arm winding back to deliver the blow as he approached Castor.

Fifteen steps.

“Brother, look out!” Though Pollux’s yell snapped Castor to his senses, in his panic at the rapidly approaching Demigod he neglected to use his hostage as a human shield, instead holding up his sword to block or parry the incoming strike.

Ten steps.

Pollux shot forward, drawing her own blade for the first time since the fight had started.

Heracles began the chant.

“ A singular strike to fell the immortal beast… a strike that exterminates regardless of resurrection…”

Five steps.

He swung the axe forward with a mighty roar.

**“Shooting The Hundred Heads: NINE LIVES!!** **”**

The air rippled and shimmered violently as the golden axe-head sailed towards its mark, even as the Dioscuri twins moved to block the incoming strike. In a fraction of a second, there were two more strikes heading for them.

Then five.

Then  _ eight _ .

As skilled as they were, even with Zeus’ nanites enhancing them… there were simply too many incoming strikes to block fully.

Castor’s grip on Ritsuka faltered as the former stumbled back, four gaping wounds torn into his body from Heracles’ Noble Phantasm. Pollux, by contrast, only had one such injury, but it encumbered her just enough for Heracles to bat her away and attack Castor again.

It was an eerie repeat of his earlier match… but with himself in Musashi’s shoes this time, fighting a losing battle against a superior opponent.

It was a vicious cycle. Despite Castor giving it his all, the sane Heracles’ exquisite swordsmanship allowed him to land continuous minor hits on his opponent, which steadily began to add up. The more injuries he sustained, the more sluggish and encumbered Castor became, the slower his reactions got and the easier it got for Heracles to break through his guard and injure him even more.

Castor’s attempts to fight back were a valiant, but ultimately doomed, effort. Even the protective and restorative power of Zeus’ nanites were only delaying the inevitable by this point.

Following his furious assault, Heracles knocked Castor back with an elbow strike to the throat, which was the final straw for the bruised and battered cartilage around his trachea. 

Beaten and bloody, the Dioscuro nonetheless raised his sword one last time and drew in a shaky, rattling breath, gurgling out a snarl of defiance even as blood pooled in his mouth, throat and lungs.

“The Gods… will punish you…”

“Let them try.”

They charged together. They swung at each other only once.

A wet crunching sound resounded through the corridor.

Castor’s body hit the floor, then began dissolving into golden light… though not without leaving a glowing metallic refuse behind.

“BROTHER, NO!!” Pollux screamed, barrelling towards Heracles with tears in her eyes, her face a mask of rage and heartbreak. “I’LL KILL YOU FOR THAT! I’LL-”

Her yell was cut off by a louder, stronger yell from a third, very familiar voice.

“ **Soar, My Great Golden Wings: LAPITHAI CAENEUS!** ”

Turning their heads, those present spied the form of Caenis, leaping directly through the hole in the Temple Door even as her body transformed into a fiery bird form… just in time for her to smash headlong into Pollux and soar upwards towards the corridor’s ceiling, leaving a burning contrail in her wake.

As the flames and heat began to dissipate, the Servants spied Pollux, slumped onto one knee, horrific burns covering about two-thirds of her body. The glow from the golden spiderweb patterns that denoted Zeus’ nanites was as strong as ever, standing out even more against Pollux’s burnt and charred flesh, still attempting to repair the crippling damage to their Host’s body.

Pollux tried to stand, tried to raise her weapon. Tried to fight on despite her injuries.

She made it about a third of the way up before Musashi’s sword pierced through her heart.

By the time Caenis had returned from her flight and Heracles had helped Mash to her feet, she had faded away too, with the same refuse left in her wake.

Ritsuka, still rubbing at his throat from his position on the floor, where he’d been deposited unceremoniously by Castor, found a hand reaching down for him.

“Thanks.” He coughed a little as he clasped the offered hand and was levered to his feet.

“No problem, boss.” Caenis cracked a triumphant grin. “You guys looked like they had it handed anyway, I just lent a hand.”

“The Temple?”

“Taken care of, all we need to do now is find a sword we like the look of! I can’t wait to see the looks on those bastard Gods’ faces when we send that machine out using one of their own swords against them!”

“Yeah, they’ll never know what hit ‘em.” The Master found himself agreeing with the Lancer’s infectious enthusiasm, despite the bloodthirsty undertones.

“There’s the spirit!” Caenis slapped him heartily on the back, before running off back into the Temple. “Let’s find us a sword!”

“Senpai!” Ritsuka had barely turned around before being tackled by a distraught Mash, her Ortinax suit still sparking and damaged. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, Senpai!”

“It’s alright Mash...it’s alright.” Ritsuka reassured her, the pain in his neck having faded at last. “The important thing is that we’re in, we just need to get what we came for and hope that everyone outside is holding out okay too.”

“I am glad that you are unharmed, Master. ” Heracles patted him gently on the shoulder.

“Yeah, just superficial damage is all.”

“That was a spectacular rescue, Heracles-san!” Mash piped up, excitement and relief in her eyes as she turned to the sane Berserker. “I’ve never seen you use your Noble Phantasm like that before!”

“ I doubt you would have, using my Noble Phantasm the correct way requires fine and precisely controlled movements that I’m normally not capable of in this Class.”  Heracles explained, before his attention was drawn to the corridor floor.

“Hmmm…”  Making his way over to the former resting places of the Dioscuri, Heracles bent down and began scooping up the shiny metallic refuse released from their bodies after their deaths and evaporations.

“What’s that you’ve got there?” Musashi asked, the swordswoman approaching with curiosity in her eyes.

“ The remnants of my…  _ father’s _ enhancements. They seem to have survived their host’s deaths. Perhaps they can be useful. ” Nobody missed the clear derision and hints of suppressed rage at the word ‘father’, nor how the Greek hero’s face had contorted in disgust for the briefest of moments.

“Oi, big guy, I found us a sword but you gotta carry it! I’ll carry the gear you asked for!” Caenis’ voice filtered in through the ruined door, snapping the others back to attention.

“Come, there will be time for rest later. ” With that said, Heracles stomped off to go and help Caenis.

“Whew! I didn’t think we were gonna make it there for a moment, but we pulled through!” Musashi was in high spirits as the remaining trio began to follow Heracles’ path. “Feels like we can do anything with you leading us, Master!”

“Well, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, yeah?” Ritsuka advised her. “First, we get the sword back to Kintoki’s mech, then we’ll go from there.”

\------------

In retrospect, he should have expected something would go wrong… after all, the plan they’d devised had been proceeding far too well.

They’d tried to be swift, they really did… but even though the Olympian  _ Wave Force Glaive _ they’d found and ‘appropriated’ could be compacted tightly enough to fit comfortably onto Heracles’ back, that didn’t make it any lighter. Even with his Demigod-level, Madness Enhancement-boosted strength, the hulking man could only lumber along at a pace equivalent to a steady jog while lugging the glave.

Caenis had been similarly encumbered, though for a different reason. At Heracles’ request, she had found and retrieved a Divine Construct bow for his later use, which she’d opted to sling over her shoulder and ferry along without complaint.

Ordinarily, the weapons were keyed to those loyal to the Olympians and only usable for them. Unfortunately for the remaining ‘Authority Faction’ Gods, Hephaestus was still considered to be a member of their pantheon, with Zeus neglecting to shackle the smithing God to tighter safeguards, allowing him to authorize Chaldea to remove the Divine Constructs they’d come for. As an added bonus, he and Prometheus had gladly fused the still-active Zeus nanites to Heracles himself, while ‘scrubbing’ as much of Zeus’ influence from them as possible, essentially gifting the already powerful Berserker the equivalent power of a full Divine Spirit.

Unfortunately, things had gone downhill rather quickly after that.

Castor, as it turned out, had not been lying when he’d boasted of Aphrodite’s arrival to reinforce the Olympian army. The Love Goddess’ Aletheian form had just made it over the nearest line of skyscrapers as the fivesome exited the Maintenance Temple to link up with their other Servants fighting outside.

Ritsuka, taking cues from their last encounter with her as well as the ‘welcoming’ Chaldea had initially received courtesy of Zeus, had ordered a full retreat immediately.

It hadn’t quite been enough. After all, Ritsuka was not the only one to learn… Aphrodite had been taking notes as well.

The Mecha-Goddess had been preparing her ‘song’ since she’d set off. By the time she’d arrived at the Maintenance Temple, it was fully charged already.

The raiding team, Ritsuka, Kintoki, Holmes and Caligula had managed to clear the blast radius before the Aletheian unleashed her attack.

The rest had not been so lucky.

Ritsuka had felt as if he were reliving Atlantis all over again, only sped up. Once again, his allies were dropping like metaphorical flies… only this time they were butchering one another in a maddened frenzy. By the time the enthralling song had worn off, only Raikou and Lancer Alter had been left alive. 

They had been tired and injured… no match for the Olympian army, which had caught up to the Panhuman Servants while they were busy killing each other.

In the end, Holmes and Mash had to drag the petrified and shell-shocked Ritsuka all the way back to their new base within the city itself. With the Gods placing the entirety of Olympus on lockdown thanks to the Godbreaker Alliance’s successful strike against a strategic asset, they had nearly gotten irreversibly waylaid, only to receive some unexpected help.

None of them had been expecting two of the native inhabitants, teenaged-looking twins named Adele and Makarios, to approach the remaining Servants and offer help. However, that surprise had paled in comparison to the shock that came after. 

Their safe passage to the Chaldean stronghold within Olympus had been provided by a hooded figure, wordlessly beckoning the group to follow them, leading them in a swerving and zig-zagging pattern to avoid all of the Olympian patrols between them and safety.

Naturally, the group had been more than a little shocked at discovering this figure was in fact  _ Kadoc _ , the Crypter of the now-denied Permafrost Empire… with the exception of Holmes, who’d seen through him almost immediately. 

As the boy had explained, he’d lost faith in his faction as well as his own candidacy as a Crypter. He’d also heard tales of how brutal Daybit and Beryl’s Lostbelts were, and grown suspicious of their mysterious benefactor, the Foreign God, especially given that he and his fellow Crypters were forbidden to investigate their identity in any capacity. Thus, he had resolved to provide aid to the Godbreaker Alliance and Chaldea, putting aside his past enmity to do so.

Once back at their safe haven, the remaining Servants had gotten to work fitting and connecting the now-unpacked glaive weapon to the mech’s own power supply and systems.

Quite surprisingly, some of the original Servants summoned to the Singularity had been well-prepared enough to create and install AI backup copies of their minds into the mech’s systems. Specifically, Edison, Tesla, Blavatsky, Raikou, Fran and Kintoki himself were the personalities engraved into the mecha, the former trio of whom came in rather handy when directing the less tech-savvy Servant in integrating the new weapon with the mech’s systems.

For the briefest of moments, the Servants had dared to hope that things just might be looking up… until an echoing,  _ booming _ voice thundered in their ears.

**“If our enemies are hiding within the great city of Olympus… then they must be rooted out.”**

Before any of them could question how exactly the Olympians planned to do that, they got an answer as the voice, identified by Kintoki and the AI-Servants as  _ Zeus himself _ , began speaking again.

“ **Demeter… level the city. Block by block. Street by street. Destroy it all to flush out our enemy.”**

For a few moments, nobody spoke. Then Ritsuka, panicked, turned to Kintoki.

“The mech’s ready, right? You’ve got the new weapon all set up, right?!” The desperation was clear in his voice.

So too was the disappointment and trepidation in Kintoki’s as the Berserker replied.

“Not yet… I’m sorry Master, we need more time.”

Hefting his axe and the bow Caenis had retrieved for him from the Temple, Heracles turned and began stomping towards the exit to their hideout.

“Then we will buy you some. Complete your project, warrior.”

“Senpai.” Mash tapped Ritsuka on the shoulder. “We should prepare too, after all...this is one of the three Gods we’re here to stop, right?”

“Yeah. You’re right.” The young man hardened his eyes. “I guess we should get what we need too.”

\-------------

The city was burning.

Most of the city blocks had already been reduced to naught but rubble, and what few intact blocks were left were now filled with screaming, desperate citizens. They ran. They ran for as long as possible. They tripped over themselves in their frantic attempts to get as far away as possible from the doom approaching them.

The large winged mechanical orb, similar in shape and design to that of a venus flytrap, slowly hovered forward, demolishing anything and everything in front of it, carving through the same city it… no,  _ she, _ used to watch over and provide for.

“I’m sorry... I am so sorry for this, my children.”  The Aletheian Demeter apologised, even as she unleashed yet more waves of sonic energy to reduce the next group of buildings to rubble. If there were any survivors from her own attacks, the battalion of Olympian knights and automations with her made sure to hunt them down. 

They needed to be sure, after all, that their enemies did not slip away in disguise.

“It will be fine… once the traitors have been rooted out, I can simply restore you all…”

The Mecha-Goddess’ voice was thick with doubt, even as she tried to reassure herself about what she was ordered to do. She was a mother at heart, not a fighter. Not a killer… 

But it was Zeus’ command, and his command was absolute. It had been since the Olympiarchia, after all.

And besides, they wouldn’t be gone forever! Like she’d said just now, all she needed to do was find the traitors. Yes, find and snuff them out! Once that was done, she could restore the city to how it was before. She could put everything back to normal, the buildings and people both.

It would be as if her attack never even occurred. There would be no blood on her hands after all, it would all be washed away once her task was done.

“Do you really believe that...?”

A whisper in her audio receptors. A faint image at the edge of her field of vision, but it was more than enough to halt the Goddess in her tracks, searching desperately for the person she thought she’d seen.

_ Persephone...? Where did you go? Why did you lea- _

Her train of thought was interrupted as several large projectiles impacted against her outer hull.

Running a quick self-diagnostic and finding no major damage, Demeter turned to face the apparent new threat. All it took was a cursory scan to confirm the presence of the magical signatures she’d been ordered to eliminate.

“I’ve found you, invaders. And now to defeat you utterly, in the name of my beloved Persephone! Knight battalion, advance!”

\-------------

“Gaaah!! Just fucking go down already!” Caenis’ voice pierced through the din of battle and the screams of a city under siege as the Lancer fired off another burst of high-pressure water at the Machine Goddess.

“I thought you’d neutralised her healing.”  Heracles joined her, firing another barrage of arrow-shaped energy bolts from his Divine Construct bow.  “Yet it seems as potent as ever.”

He was right, not even ten seconds after their attacks had struck home and left deep grooves in Demeter’s outer chassis, the hull already began re-forming and reconstructing to reverse the damage. Even with Caenis wielding Poseidon’s power and Heracles augmented by Zeus’ nanites, they could barely put a lasting dent into her.

“Ah… isn’t it sad? Isn’t it sad? Death is so sad…”  Demeter repeated for what must have been the twentieth time since the fight had started in earnest, even as she unleashed more shockwaves to churn the ground and knock her attackers back.

“Would you say something else for a change!? How often are you gonna repeat that!?” Caenis recovered quickly and moved to launch another barrage of water, only for more knights to come barrelling out of the inferno and ready their weapons. “Raaahh! I thought we killed all of you already!”

“For Olympus!” They chanted in unison.

“For Olympus?! You’re BURNING IT you fucking idiot! Whatever...just die!”

As the two Divine Servants moved to engage the remaining knights, the Aletheian above them took the opportunity, now that she was unobstructed, to move forward. She’d detected a large energy source nearby...one that seemed _ frighteningly _ similar to that of her fellow Olympians.

This had to be the invaders’ superweapon. Whatever it was, she needed to destroy it, and fast. From the energy readings she was sensing, their weapon was close to coming online.

\-------------

A ways away, from his own position near the group’s hideout, Ritsuka was fretting. 

This was always intended to be a holding action until Kintoki and the AI Servants could properly ready the mech… but Demeter was advancing too fast.

In fact, she seemed to be heading  _ right for them. _

She knew there they were...he needed to make a decision.

“Mash, show them our new teeth!” He turned to the Shielder, who started at his sudden address, though she quickly grasped his meaning.

“Yes, Senpai. Deploying at your order!” Without another word, the Shielder took up a firing position as the Black Barrel Replica began emerging. Levelling it at the approaching Machine Goddess, she began charging the lesser Barrel Cannon.

Ritsuka backpedaled as the energy levels began to spike, a threatening swirl of energy building up as the Barrel Cannon hummed to life. The Ortinax’s rangefinding systems soon helped Mash lock onto her target.

“YAAAAH!”

In a large explosion of power, the shot was released.

\-------------

“AAAAGGGHHH!!” Demeter cried out as the blast impacted and tore into her hull. Recoiling and reversing her course immediately, Demeter searched for the source of the shot as her self-diagnostics began reporting severe damage to large portions of her outer chassis, even reaching into some of her internal systems.

_Don’t panic...don’t panic...this is nothing you can’t heal._ The Aletheian reassured herself, already feeling her self-repair systems beginning to reverse the damage. Her internals had already been fixed, even! Soon enough, her hull would be back at full integrity.

She would be fine. The city of Olympus would be fine in time. Everything would be fine…

“Do you really believe that...mother?”

No…

This time, the voice was loud and clear...and the figure it belonged to was no longer a faint presence, but standing right in front of her.

A beautiful maiden, with fair skin and shining locks of red hair. A wreath of flowers sat atop her head, with yet more embroidered into her flowing white dress. Her hands were clasped in front of her as a sad smile bloomed on her face.

“P-Persephone?” Demeter’s voice sounded so small.

“Will it really be fine, mother?” Persephone asked. “After all, you can bring these people back, but you can’t bring me back, can you?”

“Wh-whatever do you mean, dear?”

“You killed me, mother.” A long, bloody gash began opening on Persephone’s neck as she continued, her blood staining her dress and running down her arms. “You killed me long ago.”

“N-no. No! I would never harm my child!”

“You cut off my head, mother. You did it at Lord Zeus’ command, remember?”

As hard as she tried to forget…the memories came flooding back.

Memories of Persephone, bound in chains and kneeling beside the corpse of Hades’ terminal unit, the God himself having self-destructed a short while ago, determined not to live on as his brother’s attack dog and plaything.

Memories of her own terminal self raising her scythe and swinging it at Zeus’ order, even as tears poured down her cheeks.

Of taking Persephone’s head and mounting it on a pike next to the head of Hades’ terminal, displaying it to the exiles of Atlantis as an example of what would happen if they ever defied their Gods again.

_ N-n-no… no… nonononono- _

_ P-Persephone...dear Persephone...what have I done? What have I-... PERSEPHONE!! _

Overwhelmed with the guilt and grief she had long since tried to suppress, Demeter began to scream.

\-------------

“ Get back, Lady Caenis!” Before she could lambast him for calling her a lady, Caenis was swept up into Heracles’ arms as he lept far away, out of range of the sonic shockwaves blasting out of Demeter’s Aletheian form, radiating from her chassis in time with the Goddess’ screams of grief.

Her own remaining troops were not quite so lucky, being decimated along with the surrounding area and any unfortunate Olympian citizens still alive among the wreckage.

“Shit, she’s really lost it!” The Lancer observed, her more sensitive animal ears flopping down in pain as she winced. “So what do we do now?”

“Now...we give her a GOLDEN FINISH!” A very familiar voice boomed from overhead….as an enormous mecha, looking very much like a Japanese Samurai, came rocketing in from behind them. Tearing right through the sonic shockwaves the Goddess was unleashing, it stabbed the wave force glaive in its arms right into the gap in Demeter’s shell, eliciting yet another scream of pain from her and cutting off the bombardment.

“Hell yeah!” In all of one second, Caenis’ frustration had flipped into frantic enthusiasm. “Come on, big guy, let’s finish this Divine bitch off!”

Heracles drew back his bow, while Caenis took a crouching stance, preparing to leap. At the same time, energy began to swirl around the Lancer’s feet and the Berserker’s bow as they began to chant.

“Higher, higher and even higher!”

“ A singular strike to fell the immortal beast…”

Caenis jumped, the orange/yellow energy coalescing around her body.

As Heracles drew his bowstring all the way back, an arrow of pure energy began to take shape within the Divine Construct.

“I can reach all the way to the sea of stars!”

“ A strike that exterminates regardless of resurrection…”

Caenis’ body was enveloped by a huge, fiery bird form as she soared towards Demeter.

The arrow was fully formed, shaped into what looked to be a ballista bolt as Heracles released the bowstring, his shot flying so fast it left burning contrails in its wake.

“ **Fly My Great Golden Wings: LAPITHAI CAENEUS!!** ”

“ **Shooting The Hundred Heads: NINE LIVES!!”**

**“** YEAH! GET SOME!!” Kintoki, caught up in the moment, piled on. Having pulled the glaive free, he channelled all available auxiliary power to the glaive’s emitters and directed the  _ Golden Bear Kai  _ to swing it once again at Demeter’s hull.

Caenis’ flames reached the Goddess first, washing over her hull and forcing their way into the still-repairing hole in her outer shell. Demeter cried out again as the flames began burning up her insides.

Heracles’ arrow reached her next, tearing right through the weakened point and ravaging her internals even further as the one hundred hits landed in very rapid succession.

Finally, Kintoki’s glaive tore all the way through her and out the other side of her hull in one fluid motion.

However, even with all the damage she’d sustained, the Mecha Goddess was still standing...and what wounds they inflicted were already starting to heal over.

“ Even...even damaged like this, I can still finish my mission. By my Authority as Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest, I release all of my power at once! I...I will take all of you with me!”

“Oh FUCK…” Caenis’ ears flopped around her head in shock, even as she, Heracles and Kintoki all started scattering as far as they could.  _ True Name Release _ was a very powerful tool even for the lowest ranked Heroic Spirit to use...there was no telling how powerful it would be when used by one of the Twelve Conceptual Pillars in her original body.

However, so engrossed was everyone else in the fight that they were blindsided entirely as Ritsuka’s voice rang out across the battlefield.

“Mash, by the power of this Command Spell, I order you: fire the Black Barrel!”

\-------------

_ A few moments ago _ .

“Barrel replica, emergency connection finished!”

A loud whirring clank sounded from the rooftop as the construction hit the asphalt.

“All green! Black Barrel has taken form. Dead counter round set into the gun barrel!”

A low, whining hum began to build in the background, emanating from the superweapon Mash was currently steadying in her two-handed grip.

“Observing fate of machine Goddess Demeter. Dead counter round, from paradox to truth.”

“Barrel replica, instant alignment complete. Ortinax alignment rate is at 30%...50%...70...80…”

“Master! The Command Spell charge!”

“Yes.” Raising his hand, Ritsuka yelled out.

“Mash, by the power of this Command Spell, I order you: fire the Black Barrel!”

The outer two prongs of the Command Spell tattoo flashed bright, then dimmed.

“Command spell charge confirmed. Spiritron chamber critical.”

“Starting bombardment!”

The low hum built into a mighty mechanical roar, with the crackle of electricity blaring alongside it as the cannon’s main structure built up a critical mass of power within.

Finally, what looked to be a mass of pure dark energy shot forth from the Black Barrel’s primary cannon, churning up the surrounding ground and forcing Ritsuka to backpedal rapidly lest he be caught by any flying debris.

Flying through the air at high speed, the energy trail flowing and coiling eerily all the while, it hit Demeter dead on, seeming to simply  _ melt _ into the new hole it punched in her hull and leaving a glowing purple-white spot in its wake.

A few moments later, it exploded into a dark mass that blotted out everything within a five foot radius.

\-------------

_ A-aahh...my mind feels...I remember now. _

Even as her systems began to shut down and her body fell from the sky onto the stricken city of Olympus, the  _ Grain _ and  _ Ether  _ being driven from every inch of her by the Black Barrel’s strike, Demeter felt all of her memories rushing back to her. Her mind felt clearer than it had in a long time.

Zeus...he’d manipulated her. Her and the other Gods after they… after they lost the Olympiamachia.

Yes… none of them had wanted to continue their absolute dictatorship, they’d all voted to remove themselves from complete control and allow humanity to develop on their own. They’d wanted a more equal partnership, especially her and Hestia...everyone except Zeus.

He’d disagreed with them...fought them... _ crushed _ them...used  _ their own Authorities against them _ . They’d never stood a chance in the end.

He’d killed half of them, save for Hades’ defiant self-destruction, and turned the rest into his slaves, little more than extensions of his will.

But now, finally… she was free.

_ I’m sorry, Persephone. But...we’ll be together again soon enough. _

_ “Strange…strange indeed…” _

Her sensors told her that there was nothing there. In fact, what they registered was a  _ void _ in reality itself where there seemed to be absolutely nothing at all. And yet...she could hear a voice, a female voice, coming from the being in front of her.

Long grey-silver hair hung over her form. Her body was completely bare save for two blue markings running down her chest and stomach, with blue coverings on her lower arms and over her brow, horizontal-facing ears surrounded by white clippings, as if she was wearing a headdress.

As old as she was, as much as she’d seen, Demeter had never encountered anything or any _ one _ like this before.

“Who are you?” She whispered.

_ “Tell me...do you have any regrets?”  _ Came the being’s questioning reply, ignoring the Goddess’ own query entirely.

“Regrets...no. But I do have a wish. A hope.”

Taking in her words, the figure then began to fade from her view, with the anomalous readings vanishing from Demeter’s failing sensors.

Nevertheless, Demeter continued to speak, this time addressing the various Heroic Spirits who were approaching her crippled form.

“I hope that one day...humans and Gods can live together, can prosper together, in peace and harmony...that is all I could ask for. That my children, all of my children, can finally be happy.”

Not a moment after she’d finished, voice growing weaker and quieter with every word, all the lights that ringed her form grew dim. The sparkle of the ornaments and patterns on her hull grew dull...and all remaining activity ceased.

In that moment, the Goddess Demeter died.

\-------------

“I… I can’t believe we managed it.” Ritsuka breathed out from his vantage point, his gaze locked onto the immobile form of Demeter, now sporting a very nasty hole right through her body.

Ordinarily, he’d be celebrating at taking down one of their greatest opponents in the Lostbelt...but after her final words, he couldn’t really muster up much triumph.

“Machine Goddess Demeter’s fate successfully observed, Senpai.”

“It’s done, well done everyone.” 

Mash and Heracles sounded similarly subdued, though still pleased about their victory nonetheless.

“YEAH! TAKE THAT YOU DIVINE TRASH!!” Caenis, on the other hand, had no such reservations, the Lancer openly jumping about in celebration with a victorious grin plastered over her face.

“Nice work boss!” Kintoki was also in high spirits, the  _ Huge Golden Bear Kai _ (as he called it) coming back around to stand in front of the group as everyone reconvened, including newly-arrived Holmes, Musashi and Caligula.

“It seems we were a little too late to help.” The Roman Emperor observed. “Our apologies for taking so long.”

“Well, it worked out anyway, right?” Musashi assured him, flashing a cheery smile to the group.

“Well, we’ve defeated one of our biggest opponents in the Lostbelt, well done Master.” The detective’s congratulations were rather offset by the troubled look on his face, which was not overlooked by the others for long.

“What’s wrong, Doc?” Musashi asked.

“Well, on the way here, I received an update from Miss Da Vinci...you remember the Beast-Class detector she and Miss Sion were working on?”

“Yeah, why?” 

“Well, not only is it finished by now….it is also  _ active _ .”

The group’s celebrations screeched to a halt. 

Expressions of triumph and confidence immediately flipped into grim, determined frowns. Even Caenis had stopped jumping about, now readying her trident and furrowing her brow.

Ritsuka’s mouth suddenly felt very dry indeed. He took a few breaths to try and steady himself, even as a cold sweat broke out on his forehead and he had to suppress the shiver that ran through his hands.

“...what?” His voice sounded so small and quiet.

“Miss De Vinci reported that the current signal is weak, but present nonetheless.” Holmes continued, looking Ritsuka dead in the eyes.

“It is as we feared...there is a Beast active within the Lostbelt.”


End file.
